Abby Sunderland Feared Lost at Sea

abcnews.com ^ | June 10, 2010 | ROBERT RUDMAN, MARC DORIAN and TOM McCARTHY

[Free ThinkerNY]

Abby Sunderland, 16, who is attempting to become the youngest sailor ever to circumnavigate the globe, was feared lost at sea today after her crew lost contact with her boat.

Jeff Casher, an engineer on Sunderland's support team, said two emergency beacons on her boat are now signaling she is in trouble.

Abby's mother, MaryAnne Sunderland, told ABC News that Abby manually activated two beacons around 6 a.m. Pacific Time Thursday.

A beacon designed to automatically go off when it contacts water had not been activated, she said.

Abby was in 20-25 foot waves at the time of last contact, with 35-knot winds, said MaryAnne Sunderland, who is due to give birth at the end of the month. She was shaken but focused on trying to get a rescue effort together.

The closest land to Abby's boat was Reunion Island, which is east of Madagascar. The nearest ship was 400 miles away. Rescuers were trying to contact the ship.

Casher told ABC News that he last spoke with the 16-year-old sailor around 6 a.m. PDT after she had been knocked down twice during the night because of strong winds -- meaning that her sail had touched the water.

One of those knock-downs, Casher said, ripped the radar off the boat. She had been speaking with Casher on a satellite telephone earlier because of engine problems and was in the process of fixing those problems when she told Casher she'd call right back.

She has not been heard from since, except for the distress signals.

[Publius6961]

I love that hymn, and choke every time I hear it.
But I assume it is no longer "lawful" for anyone in the navy to sing it...

Separation of church and state, ya know.

[Publius6961]

What?
You abandoned the balloon plan?

[cajungirl]

Oh come on be fair. We are not ninnies. We are parents who see a beautiful girl who may or may not survive this.

All of us who have kids have lived with what we permit and what we encourage and what we forbid.

We all want strong kids. BUt we want them alive to be strong grown ups.

That is not being a ninny.

[Theophilus]

No doubt this is a brave little girl. However, she should not have been put in this situation and believe me, she was put their.

Since you seem to be a person who allows your young child to take some uncommonly exciting ventures, I'll take your word for the notion that she was probably put up to it, although I'll still allow for the possibility that she put her dad up to it.

If I had the economic means and the persuasiveness to overcome my wife, I would take my brood to Hawaii and give them surfing/sailing/diving lessons. What a dream!

[A Texan]

Fine, just don’t cry to me when they end up dead.

What pisses me off about situations like this is now other people have to risk their lives because some idiot wanted to break a record.

[uglybiker]

There is a big difference between trained professionals like the astronauts and a 16 year old kid.

The space program used hundreds of trained people who were the best in their fields.

And of course they waited until they were 21 before they started feeling adventurous.

Nope. Better to stick 'em in a room with a Playstation and an unlimited supply of Dr. Pepper and Cheetos so they don't go out and do something that might hurt themselves.

Make 'em wear pads and helmets around the house. They might trip and fall.

And sure they're wearing clean underwear.

[tongue-tied]

With all due respect, if I had have been one of your children I would have survived in spite of you rather than because of.

Hear, hear! That's what my kid says all of the time. (Or, at least that's what the ex-wife says she says...)

[ex 98C MI Dude]

The report is that her beacons were manually activated. That is good news, such as it is. She was alive and still on the boat. Hopefully she had a comm failure and not a conn failure.

[Theophilus]

But I assume it is no longer "lawful" for anyone in the navy to sing it...

Sing it loud and proud brother!

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

[jimbo123]

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[tongue-tied]

...all your self-righteous hand-wringing will have done nothing other than expose you as the frightened little land-lubber you are.

Oh man, you are rich. Have another one FRiend. ROTFLMAO

[eddie willers]

Jessica Dubroff was SEVEN, and not getting any younger.

Nor older.

[Niteranger68]

Oh come on be fair. We are not ninnies. We are parents who see a beautiful girl who may or may not survive this. All of us who have kids have lived with what we permit and what we encourage and what we forbid. We all want strong kids. BUt we want them alive to be strong grown ups. That is not being a ninny

By your own words, you are trying to parent someone else's child...that's a ninny.

[Tallguy]

In the immortal words of Donald Rumsfeld: "it's not the unknowns we know, it's the unknowns we don't know that get us".

Or a sequence of "known" problems. She surely was prepared for heavy seas. Practically guaranteed at multiple points of her global circumnavigation. The article also suggest engine trouble. She might have been dealing with a non-threatening problem (the engine) instead of paying attention to the potential killer (the high waves).

Ask any pilot.

[Theophilus]

There are 9 billion people on the planet.
Living as if mere survival was the most important goal is mind-boggling.

Profound. For the vast majority through most of history, meager subsistence was and is the daily agonizing struggle. What a blessing that a few, well equipped with the many marvels of modern technology can launch on magnificent adventures.

[traderrob6]

“By your own words, you are trying to parent someone else’s child...”

Yes, when they are imbeciles.

BTW, giving your 10 year old any Seagrams lately?

[Tallguy]

... not to mention the piracy problem in the Indian ocean and at several other choke points. It’d be something any adult male would have to plan for while attempting a similar trip. A single person managing a sailboat alone is a sitting duck for an armed speedboat.

[A Texan]

Good, all them can split the tab for the recovery.

[modhom]

I’m depressed reading most of the comments about this from overprotective, ignorant busybodies.

Wish more were inspired by Master and Commander. Or the book, “Dove”.

[driftdiver]

‘Her super-rich parents made this happen for her.”

Class envy?